Former France coach weighs in on Galthie's depth

SPOTLIGHT: Former France coach Philippe Saint-Andre compared the current crop of squad depth to the time he was in charge of the national side.

Saint-Andre’s era saw the French national side never finishing above fourth place and taking the wooden spoon in 2013 – a far cry from Fabien Galthie’s charges, who are consistently in the top two after the culmination of the tournament.

According to Saint-Andre, Galthie has more talent at his disposal than any previous France coach, as Les Bleus prepare for the “toughest” match in their Six Nations Grand Slam quest.

After three successive victories, the reigning champions travel to Edinburgh on Saturday knowing that a bonus point victory would be enough to retain their title, whilst ensuring their Grand Slam dream remains intact.

“We have an incredible squad and a depth which is very well managed by Fabien Galthie,” Saint-Andre, who currently coaches Provence Rugby in the French second division, told AFP.

“The French team has often been lacking at scrumhalf or has had complex debates over the flyhalf position,” he added.

But current captain and scrumhalf Antoine Dupont is considered by many to be the world’s best player.

At flyhalf, France can pick from Romain Ntamack, who is currently injured, Matthieu Jalibert, who started against Ireland and Wales, and fullback Thomas Ramos, who was picked in the No.10 jersey against Italy.

Ramos has played at flyhalf in seven of his 50 caps, with France winning each time.

“Jalibert was exceptional at the start of the Six Nations. He is walking on water with Bordeaux-Begles,” said Saint-Andre.

“His link-up play with Antoine Dupont in the early part of the tournament has been excellent.

“Two incredibly talented players, very gifted, but who play for the team.”

Saint-Andre is also particularly impressed with Ramos’s “maturity, creativity and leadership”.

“Maybe the position where we’re most lacking is tighthead prop, but otherwise, never before has a French rugby coach had so much natural talent to choose from in every position.”

New Zealand-born veteran tighthead Uini Atonio was forced to retire before the tournament after suffering a heart attack, and Dorian Aldegheri struggled badly in the scrum against Italy.

French rugby are also benefitting from a structural overhaul since Saint-Andre was France coach from 2011-2015.

The French coach is now given more time to prepare his team, players are given more time to rest, and there is a wider talent pool at clubs to pick from.

“But be careful, we haven’t won the Grand Slam yet, and I think the match against Scotland will be the toughest,” warned Saint-Andre.

‘Luck involved’

Someone who is not getting carried away is fellow former coach Pierre Berbizier.

He led France to the 1993 Five Nations championship – before Italy joined the tournament when winger Saint-Andre finished as top try-scorer.

“France have done what they needed to do. They have taken all the points available and are top of the table,” Berbizier told AFP.

“So, they head into the end of the tournament relatively calmly, unlike the other teams who are asking themselves questions,” he added.

“But beware of Scotland, that match could tell us a lot.”

Under Galthie, France have been a free-scoring machine with more than four tries per match over the last seven Six Nations tournaments.

In the decade that preceded his appointment in 2020 under Marc Lievremont, Saint-Andre and Jacques Brunel, they were scoring less than two.

Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Theo Attissogbe and the dropped Damien Penaud, France’s record try-scorer, have the three highest try-per-match ratios of any French players in history.

Charles Ollivon became France’s top-scoring forward earlier in the Six Nations.

Berbizier, though, believes that such statistics have been “inflated” by racking up points exploiting the “weaknesses” of a Welsh team that has lost 24 of their last 26 Tests.

“When you look at the last match, there was definitely an element of luck involved,” Berbizier added about the 33-8 victory over Italy, where France pounced on a fumbled catch and an overthrown line-out to burst into a 19-0 lead.

“Luck often favours dominant teams, but, at the same time, we didn’t control the game.”